Canepa: Padres batteries a bit low

In an at bat that typified the struggles he had at the plate last year, Nick Hundley strikes out on a high fastball at Houston, the kind of plate appearance that the Padres catcher has worked technically and mentally to put behind him in 2013. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
— AP

In an at bat that typified the struggles he had at the plate last year, Nick Hundley strikes out on a high fastball at Houston, the kind of plate appearance that the Padres catcher has worked technically and mentally to put behind him in 2013. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
/ AP

The baseball team’s pitchers and catchers report to spring training camp today in Peoria, Ariz., and this is the area in which their obvious problems lie, their battery, or potential batteries, meaning pitchers and catchers.

In that, other than re-signing a bunch of their own people, they did nothing during the offseason, these are the dicey positions. With potential starters Cory Luebke and Joe Wieland rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and not due back until summer, there is no true No. 1 (Clayton Richard and Edinson Volquez being the closest things), and the top five is far from set.

But doing most of the damage is Yasmani Grandal, who after coming on strong at the end of the year seemed set to be the team’s starting catcher for years. But he got himself busted for taking PEDs and will miss the first 50 games of the season, and that’s if the organization takes him back at all, which it shouldn’t because he absolutely screwed this team. He leaves many questions unanswered.

Right now, it doesn’t matter, because he’s not going to be playing. So it’s up to former starter Nick Hundley and backup John Baker to share catching duties. That would be fine, except Hundley, one of the good guys who had shown so much promise, fell way off his game in 2012, was sent to the minors and eventually had knee surgery. It was just an awful year for him.

“Nothing’s given to you,” Hundley says. “I’m healthy; I feel great. A lot of things went down last year. I’ve broken down my swing. Physically, I know the knee had something to do with it. Mechanically, things did not go well. But I’ve changed a lot of things in my preparation. I’m not lifting as much. I was trying to be a weight lifter instead of a baseball player.”

It’s basically on Hundley’s shoulders, if not for the first few months, possibly for the entire season. He is the kind of guy you root for.

“There is no pressure,” he says. “I have one day to worry about, and that’s today. All I care about is today.”

We’re going to know right away, because the obvious key to the Padres season is on the mound and 60 feet, 6 inches away, behind the plate. If Hundley can’t rebound and the rotation can’t hang on early, this season could be longer than Yao Ming’s inseam.

Talking to General Manager Josh Byrnes last October, he predicted he wasn’t going to do much during the offseason regarding position players, and he was right. He liked the ones he had. There was a chance he would go after starting pitching, but there was no guarantee, and he’s still looking.

He wasn’t helped when potential starter/reliever Andrew Cashner was stabbed in his pitching hand during a hunting accident. Jason Marquis is back and looked at as a starter, but is he fully recovered from the non-throwing-hand injury he suffered on a comebacker last year that shortened his season?

` “Cashner probably won’t be back until mid-March and we brought back Tim Stauffer, who’s going to be out the first month,”’ Byrnes says. “Some guys just aren’t going to be ready. We’re looking for upgrades, and if we find upgrades, great. It can be done. Oakland traded its three best pitchers last year. There are different ways to do it.

“We’re happy with our everyday players. We really wanted to keep that group together. This is a pretty good position-player group that has gotten better. People aren’t going to pick us to win it in February. We’ve got to get off to a good start, though, because we’re built to get better as the season goes along.”

And Grandal? How long had he been on the juice? Are there any guarantees he’s going to be the same player if he comes back? There seems to be a feeling within the organization that Grandal hasn’t come clean on this drug thing, especially now that his name allegedly has surfaced in the Miami anti-aging clinic scandal.

The justice department probably is going to get involved now. Do the Padres want to be a part of this? Byrnes seems OK with Grandal returning.

“It’s disappointing; the rules are very easy to follow,’ Byrnes says. “He should (be back). He’s not the first guy to test positive. I’m not making light of it. It’s a fair question. He was a pedigree prospect for a long time. Are we prepared to say it’s an illusion? I don’t know.”

In any event, it would be nice to see some consistency to this franchise, now that it is under new ownership.

“I love this team,” Hundley says. “I love that we’re committed to sign guys long-term, to see continuity, to have great character guys. You know, I was looking at our 2008 team picture the other day. The only guys from it left on this team are me and Chase Headley.”